This website is dedicated to the rock band group Fujifabric. I hope that through this site, as many people as possible will be able to discover their music and songs.
This site offers an English translation of all their lyrics. In the posts on the blog, brief insights, which give some back ground and explanation to the many reference made in the lyrics to Japanese traditions, culture and life.
Looking forward to feedback and comments! Enjoy!

Friday, 9 March 2012

Cactus Record (Translation of the post on 29th Feb 2012)

Hello, everyone!
It's been quite some time since the last post was up.
It is almost reaching the mid-summer in Thailand, which is the hottest time of the year. Beautiful Bougainvillea flowers, the sound of cicadas, mangos and durians in market... Summer heat is here now in Bangkok!

Today's song is 'Cactus Record', the 8th song in Fujifabric's first album, "Fujifabric".
This is one of my favourite songs of all, and I still remember this song stroke me so much when I heard it for the first time.
The song reminds us old times...

As I am not a music profession, it is probably more like 'feeling' rather than consolidated fact, but the sound of key boards - the piano and the organ - make us feel 'old days'.

This type of the sound? is also used in 'Kagero' (' The Shimmer of Heat') so effectively, and a great skill must be required to make the sound pleasant without boredom and disgust.

In the book, 'FAB BOOK' (available in Amazon Japan), Shimura-kun says, "I was pleased with the main melody, so I was concerned with how the music should be led towards the main part.". The rhythm gradually gets faster and faster towards the main melody, and it becomes 'jimping beat' (Shimura explains in the band score).
After that, the rhythm goes back to the normal calm 8 beat, exactly like "tick-tick-tuck".
The way of returning to the original rhythm is so Fujifabric-like. It flows back so naturally.

Thanks to the effect of 'tick-tick-tuck' rhythm and 'jumping beat', the lyrics makes us imagine the scene clearly at the last part.

Even I am a layman in music, 'Cactus Record' is that kind of music which gives such an impression to me.

Because Shimura-kun always avoided to use the words which fix the meaning and the scene in the lyrics in order to allow each listener to understand the song in his/her own way, I refuse to do so, too. It is not my intention to force my interpretation of the lyrics to Fujifabric fans abroad, but please allow me to add an explanatory note here - that is, there are many words used here and there in the lyrics of 'Cactus Record' which imply foreign atmosphere of old days.

First of all, the title of the song, 'Cactus Record'.

Cactus was brought into Japan in the late 16th century from America continent by European people. As it is not indigenous plant, Japanese people feel 'foreign' even now.

Same as above, the words, 'record', 'clock', 'bossanova', 'jazz', 'jigsaw puzzle' also make Japanese feel 'old' 'foreign' much.